The field of the disclosure relates generally to internal combustion engines, and more particularly, to starter drives for use on such engines.
At least some known internal combustion engines used for power generation include a core engine having a plurality of pistons that translate linearly within a chamber that burns a mixture of fuel and air. This combustion facilitates driving a main shaft that generates torque.
Such engines typically include starter drives used to perform engine start-up operations that facilitate initiating engine rotation, introducing fuel at a proper time to achieve ignition, and accelerating the engine to a self-sustaining ground idle condition. At least some known starters include a starter motor driven by electricity or a compressed air/gas supply to rotate a shaft that is coupled to the starter drive via at least one clutch plate. Such starter drives, commonly known as “inertia drives”, typically include a helically threaded shaft upon which a pinion gear is translated. To facilitate starting the engine, the starter motor is driven by a power source of either electricity or compressed air/gas, which in turn drives the output shaft. The rotary motion is coupled through the clutch plates to drive the screw shaft. The inertia of the pinion gear causes it to be translated along the screw shaft into engagement with a ring gear of the engine. Once the pinion gear reaches the end of its travel along the screw shaft, it is fully meshed with the engine ring gear. Continued rotation of the screw shaft rotates the pinion gear, which in turn rotates the ring gear, coupled to a flywheel within the engine to facilitate starting the engine. Following a successful engine ignition, the engine begins to accelerate the ring gear faster than the rotation of the screw shaft. This results in a translation of the pinion gear along the screw shaft away from and out of engagement with the ring gear.
Some known engines use a starter drive that slides over the output shaft of the starter motor and is maintained in position and orientation using a key and set screw combination. In such starter drives, this key and set screw combination may result in an increased component failure rate and decreased reliability for such starter drives. Additionally, such a configuration results in a higher part count and an overall longer starter drive that increases production and maintenance costs while limiting the types of engines on which such starter drives may be used.